Instead of going to Lake Natoma to kayak like normal, Sacramento State senior Kristina Sessler went on a boat Saturday morning to collect trash that clogs up the lake.

Sessler, humanities and religious studies major, and about 50 other community members from Sacramento joined the Lake Natoma cleanup hosted by Recreational Equipment, Inc. and Sac State Aquatic Center.

“I think this is a good opportunity for me to just help out a place that I use and recreate,” Sessler said. “When you come here just to kayak, you’re not looking for the trash and all the litter and other things you would look for when you come here to clean up. So you kind of see, I guess that uglier side of things.”

The volunteers arrived around 9 a.m. at the Sac State Aquatic Center’s headquarters in Gold River. After being divided into groups, they rode kayaks to Lake Natoma, where they collected trash until noon.

Aside from individual volunteers, other participants include members of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sacramento and Sierra Club Inner City Outings.

The Sierra Club Inner City Outings brought 11 kids to help in the cleanup as part of an after-school program by Sacramento Food Bank Services.

“The kids are going to be around here for a long time, I hope, and it’s going to be their world and they have to learn how to take care of it, too,” said Jennifer Kerr, a Sierra Club Inner City Outings volunteer. “They’re having fun. For most of them, it’s their first time riding a kayak.”

Some kids stayed by the shore to pick up trash, while others went to the water.

“At first, we were going in circles, but then we got the hang of it,” said 10-year-old Lizett Munoz. “And then we went farther and deeper and my pants got wet. We found a turtle and a fish. It was huge!”

Sacramento resident Phil Lecocq, a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer, joined the cleanup with his “little brother,” Jason, 13.

“We’re part of a sports program, so this kind of gets us involved, not only to hand out with the group that we were with, but to see some of the efforts put forth here,” said Lecocq, who worked in the water all morning to collect lake weeds that affect the water flow.

A few individual volunteers also brought their children to participate.

“It’s about teaching our kids the importance of helping the community,” said Sacramento resident Rachel Green.

Alejandra Garcia, 10, who is also part of the after-school program, said she liked cleaning the lake and she wants to participate in another cleanup.

“Because if we don’t help, it would just be a big pile of trash sitting out there,” Alejandra said.

After the three-hour cleanup, the volunteers had filled two small boats with lake weeds and had collected plastic bags, bottles, scrap wood, metal wires, cigarettes and beer cans with crayfish living in them.

“I love to do this again because I just like kayaking and picking up trash,” Munoz said.

Kristine Guerra can be reached at [email protected].